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Monday, December 31, 2012

Twelve Themes of Two Thousand Twelve: Long Cinema (6/12)

This was a pretty good year for films and television series. Old ideas returned to bring new surprises, and it is safe to say the realm of motion pictures has been elevated to new, exciting heights.

The Walking Dead

The show has finally caught up to my expectation of the comic book that spawned it. No more filler and delay, as the characters have been given ample development and appraisal. The anticipation for the survival of certain, non-canon figures, has actually been gripping. I eagerly await the moment when The Governor mutilates a leading player or two.

Arrow

It is Batman without the armor. It has a sexy cast. The flashback sequences of Oliver Queen's captivity on the island has me hooked (or pierced?). I cannot ask for much else because DC is really asking for a solid hit to stave off the impending arrival of Marvel's S.H.I.E.L.D. television series.

Revolution

So I am told that this show is a straight-up rip of a book. I am not mad at that. I am angered more by the dad from Twilight being a badass anti-hero that I am beginning to admire. The premise alone gets my imagination going. If this show persists, I would invest my time in seeing the rest of the world outside of the eastern United States that is depicted. And I would follow Tracy Spiridakos anywhere.

Key & Peele

When Dave Chappelle was a factor in cultural echolalia, my friends and I were all over it. This show is the spiritual successor to that kind of ethnically-charged comedy. No subset of society is safe from parody, no celebrity is immune to their hijinks.

{technically, their skits run like YouTube videos, however the combined length of the series deserves to be here in comparison to the Short Cinema list}

Breaking Bad

This is one of the greatest shows ever created. I refuse to explain it, because any given person that has not seen it is strongly advised to do so.

Game Of Thrones

By far, I am confused as to why a fantasy drama has not been produced to this caliber yet. Am I blind to other shows, or is GoT really this good? The cast is nuclear. The setting is alchemistic. The story is pure magic (although magic is largely absent). Spoiler: Sean Bean dies.

Boardwalk Empire

There is a very noticeable trend here with HBO programming. For all intents and purposes, they are slaughtering the network competition. Period shows are great fodder in the eyes of producers, and they have bombarded the screen with lush visuals behind the stunning depth of actors. Follow the rise of Al Capone in the Prohibition Era.

Chronicle

This was an upset at the box office. It was filmed with a smaller budget, utilizing a clever point-of-view cinematography. Angsty high school kids uncover a source of super-powers, running amok in the Washington state area. Though it was the story of teeny-boppers, I found myself sympathizing with the individual struggles of these reckless youths.

Prometheus

Other than the mind-twisting plot, the visual buffet provided by Ridley Scott's return to science fiction (notably the Alien mythology) was the mile-a-minute thrill ride that was well worth the IMAX ticket. Noomi Rapace and Charlize Theron play leading lady roles to such an effect that one can agree that spelunking on hostile planets does not require big guns but big guts. The whole while I was white-knuckled each time David (Michael Fassbender) tinkered with stuff. Idris Elba and Guy Pearce round out the interstellar cast on this mission to determine the value of humanity.

The Dark Knight Rises

We have seen the Caped Crusader don the cowl and fall into the shadows, to finally step toward redemption. The saga completes the circle in a fashion that only Christopher Nolan can portray, without resorting to cheesy character interactions-- sort of. This heroic trilogy has successfully cured the blight of previous Batman movies.

The Avengers

Years of build up within a cycle of Marvel superhero genre films comes to fruition, and it did not disappoint. Check the box office, this rag-tag assortment of pastiches delivered multiple death blows to blockbuster crowds. Now we must wait for the next lead-in at the end of Iron Man 3.

Django Unchained

I have not seen the movie yet, but I have read the script and watched enough trailers to know it is convincingly good. Quentin Tarantino has yet to hoodwink me, and his line-ups are usually enough to attract the right attention. It is the tale of Siegfried and his damsel-in-distress set in the pre-Civil War South. The film makes no apologies for brutality in a world ruled by the gun.